Chuck, I appreciate the sentiment, I wish I could. My life has had some dramatic changes that has made it close to impossible to reach Roseland during the week (i.e. new job that keeps me in around philly and a new baby). I would do my best to make a weekend event if I could be made aware it. I did join the Philly Ship Model Society, some good guys there as well.
Joshua

I'm not surprised that AL is so high, the entry price to purchase one of their kits is extremely attractive to newbies, and not only that, there's tons of them on the resale market. I'm a little surprised the BlueJacket doesn't have a higher stake. I'll be changing those metrics in the near future. My next couple of builds will include BlueJacket kits I currently have on the shelf (Nantucket, 310 Destroyer, Olympia, Kearsarge). Midwest didn't even make into the metric...
Joshua

Ha, my misery is my job right now.... seeking another but in the mean time, have a family to consider - otherwise I'd be out. Doesn't mean that sometimes it makes me want to jump out of our 9th floor window!

As an update, puzzle is glued and mounted and hung - now I'm working on acquiring a piece of poly carbonate to cover it and then build out the frame. Thinking about illuminating it with some museum style lighting.

Hello!
I figured I'd share another project that I'm working on of a Nautical/Naval History genre but isn't modeling. I've been stalking this puzzle for 5 years now and I've finally have started it!. Roughly 5 years ago, I saw this puzzle in an educational toy store in a quaint shopping village and passed on because of the price ($100) and the finished size. At the time, I knew I could never work on something like this in my transient residential state. At the same time, I love doing things to the extreme which this puzzle definitely qualifies and I LOVED the subject. Three years later, I visited this village again and bee-lined to that same store determined to purchase if it still existed because I knew someday I wanted to attempt it. Then was still not the time because planned residence changes and I knew this puzzle was going to take some time.
I present to you, a puzzled depiction of George Chambers painting of the Bombardment of Algiers, 27, August 1816.
Completed Size: 1.92m x 1.39m (72in x 54in)
Piece Count: 9120 pieces (split between two 4560 piece bags [left & right])